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A Guide to ServiceNow Reporting and Analytics: Getting More from Your Data

ServiceNow records a great deal of activity across IT, HR and customer service: tickets opened, tasks closed, approvals waiting. Its reporting and analytics tools turn that record into insights on your operations, performance and trends.

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A practical framework for servicenow reporting.

Why Choose Oblytech?

Pick the three or four measures a manager would act on this week, then build reports around them before adding any dashboard tiles.

Define the question and scope

A useful scope starts with one question the team needs answered, and it names what the answer will be used for before any data is pulled.

Make decisions and ownership visible

Record each decision next to the person who made it and the date it was made, so later readers can see why a report looks the way it does.

The practical framework

ServiceNow records a great deal of activity across IT, HR and customer service: tickets opened, tasks closed, approvals waiting. Its reporting and analytics tools turn that record into insights on your operations, performance and trends.

This guide walks through ServiceNow reporting and analytics step by step, covering the reports and dashboards teams actually use, the habits that keep their data accurate, and the shortcuts that save build time.

Understanding ServiceNow Reporting and Analytics

ServiceNow offers a range of reporting and analytics tools to help you extract valuable insights from your data:

  • Reports: Generate various types of reports, including lists, charts, and dashboards, to visualize and analyze data from different ServiceNow modules.
  • Performance Analytics:  Track key performance indicators (KPIs) over time, identify trends, and measure the effectiveness of your processes.
  • Predictive Intelligence: Use machine learning to predict future outcomes, such as incident resolution times or resource utilization, enabling proactive decision-making.
  • Dashboards: Create interactive dashboards that provide a visual overview of your key metrics and performance indicators.
Step-by-Step Guide to ServiceNow Reporting
  1. Identify Your Reporting Needs:
    • Clearly define your reporting objectives and the specific questions you want to answer with your data.
    • Determine the key metrics and KPIs that are most relevant to your business goals.
  2. Choose the Right Reporting Tool:
    • Select the appropriate ServiceNow reporting tool based on your needs and the type of data you want to analyze.
    • Consider factors such as data source, report format, and desired level of interactivity.
  3. Build Your Report:
    • Use ServiceNow's report builder to create your report, selecting the relevant data fields, filters, and visualizations.
    • Customize the report layout, add branding elements, and ensure it's easy to understand and interpret.
  4. Share and Collaborate:
    • Share your reports with stakeholders, enabling them to access and analyze the data.
    • Collaborate with your team to discuss insights and make data-driven decisions.
Best Practices for ServiceNow Reporting
  • Use Clear and Concise Visualizations:  Choose the right chart type (bar chart, line graph, pie chart, etc.) to effectively represent your data and make it easy to understand.
  • Focus on Key Metrics:  Highlight the most important KPIs and metrics that align with your business goals.
  • Keep Reports Simple and Actionable:  Avoid overwhelming your audience with too much data or complex visualizations. Focus on providing clear and actionable insights.
  • Regularly Review and Update Reports:  Ensure your reports are up-to-date and relevant by regularly reviewing and updating them as your business needs evolve.
  • Use Performance Analytics: It tracks KPIs over time, shows trends, and measures how well each process is working.
  • Explore Predictive Intelligence:  Use Predictive Intelligence to forecast future outcomes and make proactive decisions.
Advanced Reporting Techniques
  • Custom Reports and Dashboards:  Create custom reports and dashboards tailored to your specific needs and KPIs.
  • Data Integration: Integrate data from other systems into your ServiceNow reports to see your operations as a whole.
  • Scripting and Automation:  Use scripting and automation to generate reports automatically and streamline your reporting processes.
Oblytech: Your ServiceNow Reporting Partner

Oblytech's team of ServiceNow experts can help you get more out of your ServiceNow data. We offer a range of services, including:

  • Report and Dashboard Development: We'll create custom reports and dashboards tailored to your specific needs and KPIs.
  • Performance Analytics Implementation: We'll help you implement and configure Performance Analytics to track your key metrics and measure your progress.
  • Predictive Intelligence Integration: We'll integrate Predictive Intelligence into your ServiceNow instance to enable proactive decision-making.
  • Training and Support: We provide comprehensive training and ongoing support to help your team use ServiceNow's reporting and analytics tools effectively.

Why Choose Oblytech?

  • ServiceNow Expertise:  Our team knows the platform's reporting and analytics capabilities in working detail.
  • Scope of the work: ServiceNow reporting and analytics solutions are shaped around the decisions each team needs to make from the data.
  • Client-Centric Approach:  We work closely with you to understand your specific needs and tailor our solutions accordingly.
  • Focus on decisions:  We design each report around the decision it has to support.

Common questions

Questions teams ask about servicenow reporting

What should a review establish first?

Start with the question, scope, decision boundary, ownership, and evidence that the reader needs to carry into the next action.

How should the next action be chosen?

Use the article framework to identify the unresolved decision, the responsible group, and the record that will show what happened.

The documented boundary

This article is presented as a practical reference. Apply its recommendations against the specific systems, responsibilities, and evidence available in the organization being reviewed.

Matching the question to the reporting tool

Many reporting problems start with a request for a dashboard when the question needed a list. A manager who asks how many open items are past target today needs a filtered list they can act on. A director who asks whether the breach rate is moving over several months needs a trend that holds its definition steady. Choosing the wrong instrument produces charts that look thorough and answer nothing. Settle the question first, then choose the tool, then agree the definition the figure depends on.

Choosing the right tool for each question

Question being askedRight toolCommon mistake
Which items need action nowA filtered list report saved to the team’s work queueA pie chart of status counts that nobody can act on
Is performance moving over timeA Performance Analytics indicator with a written definitionComparing two list reports built with different filters
What does one leader need at a glanceA dashboard built from reports that leader already trustsA dashboard of many widgets that nobody owns
How did one case unfoldThe record’s activity and history, not a reportExporting fields to a spreadsheet to rebuild the timeline by hand

The indicator row is the one to read carefully. A trend is only as honest as the definition beneath it, and a definition that changed quietly during the period will show up as a movement in the chart.

A sequence for trustworthy reporting

  1. Write the definition of each measure, including the start field, the end field, and whether cancelled items count.
  2. Build the list report first, check it against records you can open by hand, and only then promote it to a chart. The dashboard concept explains what a dashboard is and which widgets it can combine.
  3. Confirm who can see each report under the table access rules, so the figure is the same for everyone who is allowed to read it.
  4. Assign an owner and a review date to every shared report and dashboard.
  5. Retire reports that nobody has opened in the review period, after confirming that no scheduled process depends on them.

Where reporting loses its credibility

  • Two reports called the same thing count different records, because one uses created dates and the other uses closed dates.
  • A dashboard shows a figure that depends on a filter only one administrator can see.
  • Users export to a spreadsheet and rebuild the calculation, producing a second version of the truth.
  • Targets are added to charts without anyone agreeing whether the target is meant to drive action.

When not to build a dashboard

A dashboard is a poor answer to a question asked only once, to a question the owner has not yet defined, or to a measure whose meaning changes when the process changes. In those cases answer the question with a one-off analysis and write down the definition, so the team does not build a permanent display on unstable ground. The performance analytics indicator page explains what an indicator is, and is a sensible next read once the definition is settled.

Common questions about ServiceNow reporting

Can a shared report be given to people who lack access to the underlying table?

Not in the way people usually expect. Visibility follows the access rules on the data, so a shared report may show fewer rows to some readers. Test the report as each audience before it is published.

How many dashboards are too many?

The useful limit is the number that have a named owner and are opened within the review period. Unowned dashboards carry a maintenance cost even when nobody complains about them.

Should trend charts use the same period for every team?

Yes, wherever the teams are being compared. Different periods make a difference look like a trend.

What is the first check after a process change?

Re-run the key measures against records you already know the answer to, because a changed process often moves the answer into a different field.

Next step

If your reports disagree with each other, talk to OBLYTECH about the measure definitions before building the next dashboard. The common reporting challenges article is a related read on reporting.

Choosing between a report, a dashboard and Performance Analytics in ServiceNow

Use a report when the question is about records as they stand now, a dashboard when one role needs several answers on a single screen, and Performance Analytics when the question is how a number has moved over time. Most reporting problems in ServiceNow start with using the first tool for the third job.

ToolA question it suitsWhat it readsLimit to plan for
ReportHow many incidents are open right now, by assignment group?Current values on the recordsCannot show what the state was last month
DashboardWhat does the service desk lead need to see at the start of a shift?A set of reports laid out for one roleOnly as good as the reports placed on it
Performance AnalyticsIs average resolution time improving quarter on quarter?Scheduled snapshots of an indicatorHas no history until collection has been running

The reason is simple. A record holds its current values, so a standard report built today cannot reconstruct how many incidents were open on the first of last month. An indicator that collects a snapshot on a schedule can, which is why trend questions belong there and why the history only starts once collection starts. Switch collection on early, even before the dashboard is designed.

Habits that keep reports trusted

  • Name each report after the question it answers, not after the table it reads.
  • Record who owns it and when it was last checked against a count a person can verify.
  • Write the filter in plain words beside the report, so a reader knows what is excluded.
  • Keep personal reports personal, and share only the ones someone is willing to maintain.

Can a standard report show a trend?

It can chart records by a date field, such as when they were opened or resolved, which answers volume over time. It cannot tell you the state of those records at an earlier moment.

How many reports belong on one dashboard?

Enough to answer the role’s first questions of the day and no more. If a reader has to scroll to find the answer, the dashboard is carrying reports that belong on a second one.

For set-up options, the reporting and dashboards guides and the Performance Analytics for ITSM guides go deeper, what a ServiceNow dashboard is covers the basics, and the reporting and analytics services page describes the help available.

A practical next step

Need a clearer operating model?

OBLYTECH can discuss the questions raised by this guide and the next review step. Use the OBLYTECH contact route to start the conversation.

Useful starting pointBring the current question, scope, ownership concerns, and evidence needs into the first review conversation.

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ServiceNow guides on this topic

Guides from the Oblytech ServiceNow library that explain the practice behind this page.

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